Late, again, to the party. (Manchurian Candidate)

Today on the television was the 2004 version of "The Manchurian Candidate" and I wish I had seen it in theaters. Nothing was ruined by seeing this movie on TV and with TBS trying to "avoid" commercials it was a pleasant view first thing in my morning. My morning starting at about 12:00PM or "noon" on average.

I went and did my usual "research" for all amusements, looking for relevant links and vids, etc and while doing this I "found" the trailer on youtube. (Youtube being my favorite place and most others for online video viewing) The trailer doesn't leave much to the imagination of the film, however, and slightly ruins it. I did not see this trailer until after the movie was see, yes today was the first time I had seen it, or I do not remember it, so nothing was "hurt" by me viewing the thing.

Manchurian Candidate Trailer

Yes I posted the thing anyway.

Its a great movie about government conspiracy and a "mothers love" all linked to some ethically immoral surgery. If you ever see this on TV or find the DVD for a few bucks I'd say give it a whirl. Its not going to cost much, if anything, and you'll get a great hour or two of amusement out of it.

The 1962 version is apparently a "classic" of old movies so it might not hurt to watch that one either. I'm not going out of the way for it but if I "bump into" the thing one day I know I'll at least try to give it a good viewing. If you are "into" reading, the original book is always available at most "common" book stores.

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Food Conjunction

SISTER SITE!

"Solve Unamusement" officially has itself a "sister blog" about food, and other things of that nature. While the author of "Solve Unamusement" is only a "guest author" you can bet that its all worth a good scanning.

"Lemon Kiss", as the blogs name, is originally authored by Jikei, who also runs a couple of other blogs that are linked to on this site. While "Lemon Kiss" will, at times, falter on the amusement that is "based" for "Solve Unamusement" there are already a couple GREAT POSTS, not counting my own, that are already on the site.

With my recent blog news update this is only to point those in the "right direction" in case "Blog News" isn't a direct amusement.

Lemon Kiss - Blog about foodages and other things of that nature.<

When there is an update on that blog for any reasons there will be at least a small mention here. There isn't any certainty as to how often posts for that blog will be, either for myself or the main author of it, but a friendly reminder will be posted either way. Current post is about Kool-Aid and how it is not evil.

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Static Pages and Other "Stuff" (Blog News)

As of this post, which like all other news announcements is being set as a scheduled post, "Solve Unamusement" has had a bit of work done. Everything from static pages to small alterations in widget code, "Solve Unamusement" is slowly starting to look like it was done by someone who knows what they are doing.

Sense Last Update: These changes have been made.

• Static pages have been added and code made to prevent from static pages from being part of the "main blog". This was a rather extensive project and took me most of one day to accomplish as my HTML coding "know how" was from what was "skimmed" through back when I was in sixth grade. I am currently twenty two so you may do your own math. This is not counting the fact that I never learned CSS. After a bit of work and hullabaloo I have succeeded in creating several static pages.



• Among those Static pages is a suggestion page which I HOPE SO MUCH people will use. It will allow for others to leave suggestions in one constant spot which will be looked at as comment messages are sent to my email for both acceptance and verification.



• Static pages also include a "Solve Unamusement" style profile which is slightly copy-pasted from my blooger.com profile with the added points of my "life rules". All of this organized into a pretty little post which is nestled at the top.



• Link clusters are less "link whored" and more detailed. Actually, information that was on each link has not changed. The only thing to change is where the < /a> had gone on each link. This creates a nice eye POPPING effect and makes the links more clear from their identifying text. Some of the "identifying text" is included in the links as my brain says "that goes there" with some and "that don't go there" with others. It may seem random but a method is there.



• Relevant pic has become Irrelevant pic on the grounds that it is almost NEVER actually relevant to the post at hand. This also adds to the "theme" of the blog even if a small alteration.



• The "Site Record" and/or "Blog Archive" has been changed from a drop down list to the heirarchy for several reasons but I actually like this new format as it actually shows how many weeks have passed. Once there is to many "weeks" then the "Site Record" will be turned into months, instead of weeks... or I might change it to months before this post is available. Either way, the "Site Record" has been moved and altered.



• Keyword-Tags have been limited. I was experimenting with creating a "link cloud" but did not like them. Straight lists are the best way to go with "Solve Unamusement" and extra JavaScript will only cause page delayed loading. However, there is a post number limit on labels to prevent them from getting "out of hand". That number is currently at 4, which means anything above 4 post labels will be posted. (5+)



• The "Blogger nav-bar" has been "unhidden" due to it being a violation of Blogger's TOS, which I'd rather not violate if I can avoid it.



• There have also been some other minor changes to the template code but they are not really worth pointing out, especially as I sometimes do not even notice what they have done.



• FINALLY, there have been made "Back to Top" codes in a few places on the blog. Also, future posts on "Solve Unamusement" will each have a "To Top" link tha will take... well we all know how those work, yes? These will NOT take you to the top of the POST, but instead the site page as I don't wanna take people back to the post top.

Well, that's the information I wished to share.

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Fireflies and Dreams

Playing as new music on a lot of Alternate Music stations, "Fireflies" by Owl City is just a great pleasure to listen to. Like a lot of "current music" it lies heavily on the electronic to get itself "in tone" but I'm not one of "those types" when it comes to music. How you made it doesn't matter much to me.

Owl City - Fireflies

Personally I enjoy the imagery that the song has. Not to mention that if you take the song a bit literal, that is basically how I deal with my dreams and sleeping. Have a slight problem with differentiating between dream and reality, its nice to think that this is the literal meaning but I'm sure its a love song, rather. Either way though, I still like it.

That is all, give a listen and tell me what you think. Its not a horrible song by any means but I do see how some might not enjoy it, especially with the random thoughts that this is "Emo Rock". I really need to discuss what "is" and "is not" "Emo Rock" and why Alternative or "Alt Rok" only houses a small bit of "Emo Rock" and only due to "Pop Culture Influences".

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Tollbooths!

Phantom ones to be exact!

While I was wondering what to write about today a thought came to my head, which was that of books. Now, in all honesty, I do not read many paper books nor have I. This is due to it being a mandatory accomplishment which quickly took the pleasure or "amusement" out of reading. There were a few books, however, that always managed to keep my attention regardless of why I was reading them.

One of those books was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It is considered a classic for children's fantasy but I see it a good read regardless. The book and story generally appeal to me by the way it is worded. Things do not mean exactly what they mean while meaning something almost similar and backwards. It is just a beautiful world that reads like the sarcastic personality who was reading it.

Nothing fully made sense to the main character and at the same time made perfect sense within the terms of literal wording and phrase usage. In fact, one of my favorite phrases to use that is not directed from this book would be "Angering The Watchdog" which is a "hint" to the book at one point where the "Watchdog" gets a rather peeved that Milo, the main character, is "killing time".

Whatever, whatever.. just read the book for yourself, honestly. Also, apparently there is a movie that was made before I was born, which makes sense as the book was written in the sixties, which I shall see if any good once the downloads are complete.

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Dead Fantasy I - V

I bumped into these vids not long ago but at that time did not have a blog or any means other then word of mouth to share. However, at that time there was no word of mouth either so I simply watched them and found them only personally amusing. Recently they were brought to my attention once again, especially sense the third one was released recently.

These "movies" are a fan made product by Monty Oum, as he/she is called via their internet identity and/or gamertag via Xbox Live (XBL). The films feature the star female characters from the Dead or Alive (DOA) series and the Final Fantasy (FF) Series... plus a bit of Kingdom Hearts for shits and giggles.

Dead Fantasy I & II


Dead Fantasy III

Dead Fantasy IV

Dead Fantasy V

The best part about all of this is you don't really need to know to much about the games to fully enjoy the fan films. I only know a few of the characters from each side, personally, but the awesome kickassery is there regardless of nerd knowledge.

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Nudder Book to Movie (Inkheart)

Inkheart by Cornella Funk was recently made into a fully made movie. While there has been no reading of said book, here, the movie has a great tone and point of view from which to tell a story. Sharing the typical "G v E" that fits most, if not all, fantasy; Inkheart doesn't stray from "what works". Actually going one step farther then that and taking what works and finding a "legal way" to outright steal it.

While the movie was great fun and had a nice happy ending to which make you all fuzzy inside, there was still an "it figures" tone when it ended. All the "bad guys" failed in their mission to control the world and everyone else got exactly what they wanted. The old woman got her adventure, the girl her family (and even an implied boyfriend) while the lead character got his wife and love of his life while the woman was set free of her shekels and "made right". I say "made right" as there was a small "mix up' among characters that turned the chick into a mute.

That is typical fantasy-hero-win-everyone-loves story, the point of view was what made the entire thing. While most stories take on the view of participates, this one also added in the secular of reader. The "main problem" being that there are some people who have the ability to bring things alive simply by reading from a book aloud, actually pulling the thing described (even if a person or place) from the work of fiction. Its a nice concept to make the story, book assuming as well, separate from the market that floods with all this typical fantasy.

All in all what you'll get with the movie, and book hopefully, is a nice adventure with a twist. And not a lame weak M. Night type of twist, one that fits and is coherent with the story. Debates are going on with myself about trying to read the book, and obtaining it, but the movie is still here and worth a second or third viewing.

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Bowling Ball Cannons.. or not.

A suggestion by a blog reader was to look into "bowling ball cannons" however I honestly did not find them all that amusing. The core problem was that there was a cannon and it fired, something and that was the end of the video. No creator no visible trail of the ball flying through the air, nothing. Every video was just a bunch of drunk hicks getting their kicks out of watching a cannan jump and then a spot dissapear into the distance. I don't get it.


There isn't much to these vids but I did say I would cover the thing so here it is. Sorry if you are disappointed with my views on the thing but really, not that amusing.


However I think participating actually in making and firing one of these cannons would have a lot of fun to it so this is a saving grace. Especially sense, provided you shoot the things in the desert or something of the like, they are legal to have by citizens. Some places require permits for "heavy artillery" and others do not, oddly enough, count them as actual weapons. However I could see someone pirating a mini-van with one of these things.

Here is a link to the youtube search I ran and this site has a weak how too with actual damage results.

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target="_blank" (Blog News)

I do listen to my readers! Recently I had someone tell me "I like your blog but you should have links open in new windows". At first I was using the lazy answer of "That's just how blogger works" but then I remembered I could use HTML in the blog template. A quick search found me the code I needed at The Real Blogger Status, blog. This quickly became a nightmare with all my "Labels", or as I call them, "keyword-tags" opening in new windows, as well as when/if someone wanted to post a comment or "view a post" in particular. Clearly the "quick fix" wasn't going to do much.

Lucky for myself the blog I found had many neat tricks as well as some basic HTML, that I already knew but forgot the exact code. Those of you that know java script and/or HTML were already guessing what I was going to talk about.

Anyway, I found a neat way to make my link clusters into personalized HTML widgets that I myself can edit and add the target="_blank" bit of code to the "a href" which opens links in new windows or tabs. That depends on your browser settings of either window or tabs. Mine open in tabs as I do not like extra windows when there shouldn't be.

Well after that was done there was the task of altering all of my posts, but that was quickly given up. Instead I opted to only change a few of the recent ones as altering all of my posts would be an all day task. However, in the future I shall use the target="_blank" command for links that should not be opening in the same window as the blog I want you to be viewing.


I figured I would share that "bit of knowledge" with my readers, all 6 - 10 of you (The minimum is 5 while the maximum is something like 15).

If anyone has an idea on how to improve the blog, even if it something seemingly simple or trivial, tell/ask me anyway. (Asks go off better then tells.) I doubt there are those that have truly stupid ideas as I am still learning.

There is also the constant thought of whether or not to include a search of some type on the blog. I could create one, with help of that site and others, to include my keyword-tags, which I am thinking about turning into a cloud rather then a list, or I could use two others. The first option, and easiest, is to just drop a Google search box on the site. Solve Unamusement had one at one point but I quickly found it more distracting then anything, however, now that there are more posts it might be needed. The other is to find a simple search widget that only searches the blog and has no ties to Google. I am "torn" between the last two.

Other then the fact that during my "upgrade" some links in the link cluster area were removed to save time and/or space, that is all that has happened to this blog sense its last update. That is if you don't count our newest Following member Reyga, as news of course. Readers are always appreciated, mate, this is unless I prevent them.